Friday, January 1, 2016

This first morning of 2016, I woke up bright eyed. Now for those of you who know me, you know this is a rare thing. I am not exactly what you call, a “morning” person. I am a “do not talk to me for 2 hours after drag myself out of bed” person.

But this morning I opened my eyes and felt… giddiness. Oddly enough, even after staying up until 3 am bringing in the New Year, I woke up with this incredible energy coursing through my veins... excited for the new year to begin.

2015 was not a bad year, but it was overwhelming… a "keep one foot in front of the other and your head down and just survive" kind of year. The first half was pregnancy and selling a home and buying another and moving. The second half was new baby and trying to unpack and do a million craft shows and get through the busy season of retail.

I spent much of the past year thinking “life is so short… I need to do ALL the things and I need to do them ALL right NOW!” My business should be growing faster and my kids should know more and we need to go on marriage retreats and Indy should be sleeping through the night at 6 weeks and we should start a Bible study and why is the house not perfectly decorated a month after we move in??

My mind started getting cloudy. The haze of busyness and ambition took over and that fog is hard to lift. It is difficult to pray and connect spiritually when your mind is packed with so many events and ideas… it becomes all about me. me. me. my schedule, my ideas, my big plans for the future.

And when I am missing that connection with God it allows this trickle of doubt and negativity in… I’m not doing enough. I’m not good enough… and eventually this anxious, stressed attitude overtakes me. My kids suffer, my husband suffers, and the whole mood of our home changes.

But thankfully I can feel that mood lifting.

This morning God woke me up with a totally clear head and with ears to listen… and He told me to pray... so I walked through our house and prayed over it and those who live here. I prayed over the boys, over our marriage, over this coming year and what it will bring. I thanked God for 2015. As stressful as it was, we survived and can now see a new season on the horizon.

I wanted to start this year fresh. I don’t have a million resolutions because that will add to the stress of do more, be better.

What I want for this year is not to be more or do more. But just to be present where I am... to listen, to feel, to dance and sing and laugh and cry and just be in the moment. Our life is going to be hectic… that is just the season I am in right now with 5 young sons.

I can’t do much about the chaos, but I can make the conscience effort to stop dreaming of a different season and be fully here now… with eyes wide open, seeing all these beautiful people around me, letting God speak and not being so consumed with doing doing doing that I can actually stop and hear His voice.

To let go of any expectations of who I "could" be and appreciate the person God made. The sometimes too loud, socially anxious, messy, late, ambitious, deep thinking, domestically challenged, never satisfied, quirky soul… to accept her. To enjoy my boys… not wishing they were younger or older but looking at them right here, right now and breathing in their little souls and let them know what a joy and privilege it is to be their mama… and to accept that I am exactly who they need as a mother… just as I am now.

I have always been a daydreamer and have spent so much time in my head. But this year I don’t want to just observe and analyze and over think EVERYTHING, I want to live! No more standing back rehashing the past or dreaming constantly of tomorrow because you know what? Tomorrow isn’t going to be perfect either. I know how wildly unpredictable and sometimes tragic life can be. I have spent so much time holding back just a bit and waiting for the next ball to drop… but what a waste that is.

There is so much to take in and be a part of right now… even within the chaos.

Just look at the world around us. It is truly breathtaking. Miracles happen every day.

And those miracles happen because people are there, awake in the moment, not over analyzing and absorbed in their own bubble… not thinking about the the next thing to check off on their to-do list.

It’s because they open their eyes and hearts and minds and look up.

Step through the fog.

Connect…

with God. with each other.

And as we connect, something awakens inside us. Because God made us to be together, to lift each other up, to laugh and cry, to pray and worship together… not just to follow each other’s perfectly crafted lives on social media, but to dig in with each other, the good, the bad, even when it’s messy and doesn’t turn out perfectly, it’s real life and at the end of your time here you will be happy that you didn’t waste your time on superficial things.

Embrace your tribe, the people God has placed in your life for this season... see them with new eyes and a humble heart. When they speak, really listen… ask God to help you be the person who encourages and speaks life, not ignores or tears down. Be a powerhouse of prayer and love for those who are hurting and rejoice with those who are celebrating.

That’s when the miracles happen… when people let go of all the baggage and just jump in head first to wherever God leads them today. Not only in a mission field in Africa, or a hidden house church in China, but right here, in small town, Georgia. And not waiting until you have that amazing job, or the perfect home, or you lose that 30 pounds... but right now. It's time to wake up and see the opportunities around us to do good works, even if all that means today is changing a diaper and comforting a cranky toddler. It is good. If you are fully open to see the purpose and beauty in it.

Live today as fully awake as you can… because all those waking moments will run together and eventually you will look back and realize those moments are everything.

Over the past few days I have been thinking about what my word of the year should be for 2016. In case you haven’t guessed it, my word is simply... awake.

That is how I plan to spend my year… fully aware, fully engaged, open to see miracles in the mundane and opportunity in the everyday.